


Sans Argent, Avec Esprit

by Lexigent



Category: Slings & Arrows
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-08
Updated: 2015-01-08
Packaged: 2018-03-06 17:54:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3143351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexigent/pseuds/Lexigent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria, post-series.<br/>For the prompt "thank you Maria".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sans Argent, Avec Esprit

Tidying up after the Lear is tougher than clearing out their regular theatre even though there is less to do. Maria is finishing up in the lightbox and is about to head off home when Geoffrey taps her on the shoulder.  
"I think I need some help with Charles."  
She's got a snarky comment behind her teeth, but seeing Geoffrey's expression makes her bite down on it.  
"Oh God."  
"Yeah."

They call the home Charles lived in and get told someone's picking him up. The minister offers to hang around so Maria can go home. She grabs a whisky when she gets in and thinks, well, at least that's a proper ending.

***

They bury Charles a week afterwards. The timing couldn't be more apt. The actors aren't going back to New Burbage, and that's not really unusual with the theatre business being what it is. However, Maria thinks her and Anna won't be going back either. Richard at least had the good grace not to come to the funeral and that's the one thing she's grateful for. She's not sure he'd have got out of it alive.

"So, what's next?" she asks when they're having a drink afterwards. Geoffrey and Ellen look awkwardly at one another, and then Geoffrey says, "Basically, Montréal."  
She gets lost in the particulars of the story that Ellen tells, but the gist of it seems to be that she's lost her house and that means there is quite literally nothing to hold the two of them here.

"So we're moving to Montréal. I have this idea about reviving the Theater Sans Argent..."  
"Well, that would be a really apt title, for a start."

Geoffrey takes a sip of his drink and pulls his face into a fake smile for a second. "Yep."  
She's silent for a second, then asks, "Are any of the others coming with?"

Geoffrey talks into his drink, not to her. "I've not..."

"It'll all work out eventually," Ellen says. Maria shakes her head. "You've not thought this through at all, have you?"

Geoffrey bites his lip. "Not really had the time." Maria groans and rolls her eyes. "Actors. You people need a minder, all of you."

"And that's why we have you, Maria." Ellen clinks her glass to Maria's and then downs it flat. "Okay, ladies' room, back in a sec."  
She leaves Geoffrey and Maria to it and they sit in silence for a while.

"She's right, of course, she's always right, damn her."  
"Except where money is concerned." Maria takes a long drag on her drink and puts the empty glass on the table with feeling. "So are you gonna ask me or what?"

Geoffrey's eyes light up as if this is the first he's heard of the idea, then he controls himself and says, "I couldn't possibly."  
Maria sighs. "If you people left the drama to the stage, your lives would be so much more straightforward. I can either hang around here and spend my time trying to keep Richard from getting his hands on the Sierra while Darren dictates me cues, or I can clean up dead bodies after you. God knows which one I'd rather do."

"I can't imagine either is very enjoyable."

"No. But one of them matters."

Geoffrey nods slowly. "Okay, that was honest."

"And?"

"You should sleep on it."

"And?"

He lets out a breath and looks straight at her.

"Thank you, Maria."

"It's fine." She points at her glass. "I'm going for a refill. You want another?"

He puts up a hand. "No, thanks."

Maria starts queueing up at the bar. As she gets her wallet out, she realises that the most she can get for what's in it is a coke. She gets the glass and laughs suddenly when it comes, in a way that gives the bartender a start. "To the theater sans argent," she says under her breath and makes her way back to the table.


End file.
